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Rogue builds
The rogue is a melee damage dealer, with a very limited tanking ability when popping Evasion ; this section lists various talent builds focused on dealing damage, for PvE and PvP. Talent builders can be used to play around with different builds, and can be found at Wowhead, WoW Vault and ThottBot. Rogues are all about single target melee DPS, often sacrificing their otherwise limited raid utility for extra dps. Unfortunately, Rogue builds are very dependant on their weapon type ; with daggers, most builds rely on Backstab, with other weapons, on Sinister Strike or Hemorrhage. As such, builds are often based on these attacks, with talents that complement each other well. For instance, the Seal Fate dagger build takes advantage of the high Backstab crit rate to build combo points very rapidly. Suggested pre 1.12 Talent Builds These builds listed in this section have been based on Rogue FAQ by Chalon and Talent Guide by Oroblram. Please consult these for further details. Assassination Dagger Build * Breakdown: 31(30) Assassination, 8 Combat, 12(13) Subtlety * Key Talents: Malice (5), Lethality (15), Cold Blood (21), Seal Fate (30) Imp. Backstab, Opportunity * Good Inclusions: Imp. Gouge, Imp. Sinister Strike, Ruthlessness, Relentless Strikes, Imp. Kidney Shot, Vigor, Imp. Ambush, Master of Deception, Camouflage This is a heavy-hitting dagger build that relies on high crit chances on Backstabs and Ambushes, coupled with increased damage (Lethality and Opportunity), and good combo point generation through Seal Fate. The DPS for dagger builds excel more in group situations, but it's still no slouch when by yourself. Also, because of the nature of crits, the damage on this build can be spiky, depending on whether you get good rolls or bad. Assassination/Combat Dagger Build *Breakdown: 30(31) Assassination, 21(20) Combat, 0 Subtlety *Key Talents: Malice, Lethality, Cold Blood, Seal Fate, Imp. Backstab, Dagger Specialization *Good Inclusions: Imp. Gouge, Imp. Sinister Strike, Ruthlessness, Relentless Strikes, Imp. Kidney Shot, Vigor, Blade Flurry, Lightning Reflexes, Deflection, Riposte, Precision This is similar to the Assassination Dagger Build, except it drops Subtlety entirely, and instead gets the Dagger Specialization for more chance to crit. It also picks up a few other Combat talents to help survive when outnumbered or overmatched. Combat daggers, is a build that usually comes in the forms of 16/25/10 or similar, it takes white damage (where swords shine a lot) added with high often-critting backstabs. Key talents are; Lethality, Opportunity, Dual Wield Specialization and Dagger Specialization. All you so with this build is, keep Slice and Dice up Always, only backstab, and pop blade flurry (if you got it) whenever it's not on cooldown. Simple? Perhaps, but very very effective on high-end bossfights... sadly - this is the only part where it shines, you are most likely to be out damaged by sword and seal fate rogues on trash mobs and you wont have any toys (like seal fate, cold blood or adrenaline rush) in PvP. Assassination/Subtlety Split Dagger Build *Breakdown: 21 Assassination, 8 Combat, 22 Subtlety *Key Talents: Imp. Backstab, Cold Blood, Preparation, Imp. Cheapshot *Good Inclusions: Imp. Gouge, Imp. Sinister Strike, Ruthlessness, Relentless Strikes, Opportunity, Imp. Ambush, Intiative, Camouflage, Master of Deception, Imp. Sap This is another Backstab dagger build, but instead of getting the CP generation boost of Seal Fate, it opts to get Preparation. Generally the decision to get Preparation is more of a PvP one. Combat Speed Rogue for 1.2 *Breakdown: 11 Assassination, 31 Combat, 9 Sublety *Key Talents: MAster of Deception, Camoflauge, Sword/Mace/Fist Spec., Dual Wield Spec., Relentless Strike, Riposte, Adrenaline Rush *Good Inclusion: Imp. Gouge, Imp. Sinister Strike, Imp. Backstab, Deflection, Precision, Ruthlessness, Malice, Imp. Eviscreate I currently use the Hemo build, based on bleeding your opponent to death. I am a 60 rogue, in it mostly for PvP, and it is a very good build, but with the inclusion of 1.2, Blizzard took away a most important talent known as Improved Rupture. This build is meant to cut down on the decreased speed in stealth with Camoflauge, allow you to do insane damage, and let you get a good chance of getting some bonuses from your combo points. I personally already use swords, but in my opinion the Mace build looks promising. Heavy Combat Sword/Mace Build *Breakdown: 31+ Combat, rest in a combination of Assassination/Subtlety *Key Talents: Imp. Sinister Strike, Mace or Sword Spec, Blade Flurry, Adrenaline Rush *Good Inclusions: Lightning Reflexes, Precision, Deflection, Dual Wield Spec, Aggression, Malice, Lethality, Ruthlessness, Relentless Strikes, Master of Deception, Camouflage This build tends to have much more "even" damage than an Assassination build. Your individual hits are not as high as an Assassination dagger build, but the DPS still can be roughly the same. A distinct advantage of this build is that Sinister Strike does not require you to be behind an enemy, so you can spam it all the time. Also, because of the lower energy cost of Sinister Strike, you can generate Combo Points at a fairly effective rate. Subtlety/DoT Build *Breakdown: 31+ Subtlety, rest in a combination of Combat/Assassination *Key Talents: Premeditation, Preparation, Hemmorhage, Imp. Rupture, Opportunity *Good Inclusions: Master of Deception, Camouflage, Imp. Sap, Imp. Cheap Shot, Ghostly Strike, Setup, Imp. Slice and Dice, Imp. Garrote, Imp. Sinister Strike This is probably the 2nd least common of the builds listed. It involves using Garrote, Rupture, and Hemmorhage to literally bleed your target to death. This can work well if played properly, but is a difficult style to figure, and in some cases lags a little behind a build which concentrates more on Assassination or Combat. Also, Setup is not really that great of a combo point generator. Speed Combat Build Notable: Precision (10), Riposte (11), Blade Flurry (21), Adrenaline Rush (31) *Breakdown: Assassination 12(17), 31+ Combat, 5(0) Subtlety *Key Talents: Imp. Slice & Dice, Relentless Strikes, Imp. Sinister Strike, Dagger Spec, Dual Wield Specialization, Blade Flurry, Adrenaline Rush. *Good Inclusions: Master of Deception, Malice, Imp. Sprint & Evasion, Riposte, Lightning Reflexes This is by far the least common of the builds listed. It's based on the logical principle of "The more hits you can dish out, the more chances you have to apply poisons & proc." The use of quick Daggers (Swords if you can find them, Daggers allow Backstab & Ambush however, which matter little in this build however). A distinct advantage of this build is that Sinister Strike does not require you to be behind an enemy, so you can spam it all the time. Also, because of the lower energy cost of Sinister Strike, you can generate Combo Points at a fairly effective rate. The increased critical strike chances and DPS however, will make up for the lack of assassination skills. The important strategy to note is, you can get a 12 second Slice & Dice with one combo point, Blade Flurry is about 12 seconds, and Blade Flurry's number of attacks increase according to Slice & Dice's speed increase. Here are general tactics when using this build. *PvE **1v1: Cheapshot, Sinister Strike, Sinister Strike, Armor Break, Slice & Dice if you got a combo point, and then unleash the fury however you feel necessary. Sinister Striking & Eviscerating as much as possible, and rejuvenating your S&D with 1 combo point. **1v2 (or more) ***(Non-Aggro): Sap or Cheapshot, your call, if you sap, follow 1v1 rules, if you Cheapshot, or sap and have more than 1 opponent left, follow the guidelines for an Aggroed combat below. ***(Aggroed): If you are fighting 2 at the same time, and don't have the opportunity to get the first strike, think of theses as your non-vanish (Read: Non-Cowardly) emergency tools for victory. First thing is first, throw up Evasion, then pull out a Sinister Strike, and throw on S&D and Blade Flurry. Blind something to have pseudo-crowd control if need be. If you're in a real pickle, or are just fighting two elites, or something crazy, use Adrenaline Rush, and pull out 2 or 3 full combo eviscerates or maybe an Armor Break and some Eviscerates, Potions, Bandages, etc. If all else fails okay to be a chicken and Sprint or Vanish. Altough, I'm not an expert, this could be a Sample Build. *PvP **Cloth Wearers: Cheapshot (If it's a Mage, Garrote/Ambush), Armor Break, Spam Sinister Strike, Eviscerate, if they're still alive, Slice & Dice. **Leather Wearers: Cheapshot, Rupture, S&D, Sinister Strike to 2 combo pts, Armor Break, and spam Sinister Strike & Eviscerate. **Mail Wearers: Cheapshot, Sinister Strike, Sinister Strike, Armor Break, S&D if it's available, and then spam Sinister Strike & Eviscerate. **Plate Wearers: Garrote(Cheapshot), Sinister Strike to a 5 pt, Rupture(Armor Break). You're better off just stunning them and running away when they're not stunned. Let your Poisons & DoT do the talking, if all else fails Blind & Sprint/Vanish and hope for the best. Cold Blood/Preparation Build *Breakdown: Assassination 21(26), Combat 5(2), Subtlety 25(23) *Key Talents: Cold Blood, Preparation, Improved Cheap Shot *Good Inclusions: Seal Fate (1 point), Improved Gouge, Initiative This build was based rather heavily off Osiris' build in his rogue guide here and updated here. I simply tweaked it a little, removing points from Improved Rupture and placing them into Elusiveness and Seal Fate instead, for a 20% chance to gain an extra combo point on a crit (a nice bonus that is worth having in my opinion). This build was meant for PvP, though it doesn't do too badly in PvE either. *For PvP: Use the following combo. Cheap Shot, Sinister Strike, Gouge, Cold Blood, Eviscerate. Then Vanish, CS, SS, Gouge, Preparation, CB, Eviscerate. Vanish again, CS, SS, Gouge, Eviscerate. What you end up with are 3 Eviscerates, two of which are guaranteed crits, and an opponent who has been kept stunned throughout the entire duration while you were working on him. This strategy is of course by no means foolproof; many classes have abilities to break stun, and any one of those many Cheap Shots or Gouges might not hit. So: If a Cheap Shot misses, Vanish and try again, Preparation will finish its cooldown as well. If a Gouge misses, Blind the opponent and go into stealth. If an Eviscerate misses, do the same. *Mages: Mages can blink out of stun. That makes them almost immune to Cheap Shots, if they use Blink intelligently. It also makes them one of our worst enemies. So when fighting a mage, swap your offhand dagger (or just a dagger, if you're using a sword or mace) into your main hand and ambush them. Extreme burst damage is the key here; a mage cannot have a rogue on him and survive, and he will try to Blink away. Follow him with Sprint, and Vanish when you get close to him. Then Cheap Shot him while Blink is cooling down (20 secs), and do a 5-point cold blood eviscerate. After that do everything in your power to keep him in hand with Gouge (which he can't Blink out from) and Kick. *For PvE: Simply open with Cheap Shot, and Sinister Strike and Eviscerate until the mob is dead. You might want to use Cold Blood and Preparation when they come up. Otherwise the strategy for fighting PvE is the same as stated above. Hemorrhage Build *Breakdown: Assassination 21, Combat 3, Subtlety 27 *Key Talents: Hemorrhage, Cold Blood, Preparation, Improved Cheap Shot, Initiative *Good Inclusions: Ghostly Strike, Setup, Improved Sap, Improved Rupture, Relentless Strikes This is a variation on the Cold Blood/Preparation theme. Because Hemorrhage is so deep in the Subtlety tree, this build should be avoided until level 45 or 50. It is viable in both PvE and PvP, with respectable white damage and the group-friendly Hemorrhage talent. Hemorrhage is used in place of Improved Sinister Strike for combo point generation, doing slightly less damage per hit than Sinister Strike, but costing less energy and causing additional damage to the target from ALL physical attacks (not just the rogue). Ghostly Strike is a combo point generating strike in the Subtlety tree which also increases the rogue's dodge (7 second bonus to dodge of 15 percent, every 20 seconds) and paves the way to one point in Setup, which is a dodge-based combo point generator. Another advantage of this build is that it allows you to obtain both Master of Deception and Camouflage or Rapid Concealment and Camouflage without sacrificing your damage output. The Hemo build is widely regarded as the ultimate stunlock build. It plays pretty much the same as any other Cold Blood/Prep build, except that you don't have to get behind your target like you do with Ambush/Backstab-oriented builds. Hemo is a great choice for group-oriented/utility rogues that also provides adequate solo capability. For example, at level 50, you can solo non-elite mobs four levels higher pretty consistently. A typical Hemo combo: Cheap Shot, Hemo, Ghostly Strike, giving you 5 combo points and dodge increase as the target recovers from Cheap Shot, followed by any of these finishers, circumstantially: Kidney Shot - when you absoutely, positively have to stunlock your target. Follow up with a Gouge as KS is about to break in order to recover some energy, bandage, whatever. Vanish as the Gouge is about to break if the target is a player or a mob that has a nearby friendly on its hate list (otherwise the mob will go into Evade mode and recover health - unless you Blinded it first, but that costs energy) and start your next Cheap Shot combo. Improved Rupture - good when soloing and especially when working in groups; this is energy efficient, predictable damage without any aggro-generating spikes. It will break Gouge and Blind, since both are mezzes, but should not interrupt Cheap Shot or Kidney Shot should you feel the need to re-stun. Rupture is a bleed and so ignores armor but can also be stopped by the dwarven racial ability Stoneform or the Luffa trinket. Some mobs, such as elementals and most undead, are immune to bleed effects. Even so, this is a bread and butter finisher for the Hemo rogue in most situations. Eviscerate, Expose Armor, or Slice and Dice - you know the drill. Also see the forum post here 1.12 Talent builds Because the talent trees for Rogues have been significantly changed, builds will vary greatly. Here are some builds being beta-tested at the moment. Stunlock 24.3.24 build *Breakdown: Assassination 24, Combat 3, Subtlety 24 *Key Talents: Improved Cheap Shot, Hemorrhage, Cold Blood, Improved Kidney Shot, Preparation *Good Inclusions: Improved Poisons, Lethality, Opportunity One of the more popular 1.12 builds, this one focuses on a complete 100 to 0 stunlock, combining Improved Cheap shot, Initiative, Preparation, Hemo, Cold blood and a new 1.12 talent, giving 3% additional damage per talent point (up to 9%) from all sources while stunned from kidney shot. Advantages *Easy stunlock *Very effective for dueling Here is the link Stunlock 1.12 Here is a slightly tweaked 21/3/27 build Alternative stunlock 1.12 Grind/Farm spec Hemo *Breakdown: Assassination 2, Combat 24, Subtlety 25 *Key Talents: Improved Cheap Shot, Ghostly strike, Hemorrhage, Endurance, Setup, Riposte. *Good Inclusions: Initiative, Preparation, Remorseless attacks. Mostly a grinding build, this one relies on high dodge, Ghostly strike and frequent Evasion to build up combo points with Setup and Hemorrhage. Whenever Blade Flurry and Evasion are up, fight two mobs at once, pop up Evasion, Slice 'n Dice, then Blade Flurry. Don't forget to Hemorrhage both enemies. Advantages *Gain combo points by dodging *Sturdy rogue with Deflection, Evasion and high dodge *Decent and even dps with Precision and Dual Wield Specialization *Good against armed enemies with Riposte Example build 2.24.25 Raid boss spec BS *Breakdown: Assassination 18, Combat 26, Subtlety 7 *Key Talents: Improved Backstab and other Backstab talents, Dual Wield Specialization, Precision and high crit. *Good Inclusions: Relentless strikes, Blade Flurry. This build shines best in end game raiding, with long fights and a need for high sustained dps while avoiding aggro. Advantages *High dps with high damage Backstab, high crit rate, Dual Wield Specialization, Precision *Threat reduction with Sleight of Hand *Good for raiding Example build 18.26.7 Seal Fate 1.12 *Breakdown: Assassination 31, Combat 14, Subtlety 6 *Key Talents: Improved Backstab and other Backstab talents, Seal Fate, Vigor, Cold Blood. *Good Inclusions: Poison talents, Cool down shortening talents, Improved Sprint. This build epitomizes burst damage. Move out of melee range while energy regenerates to avoid melee hits, then move in for a quick strike. Use crippling poison main hand, damage / mind numbing off hand. Advantages *High burst dps with high damage Backstab *Quick combo point generation with Seal Fate *Good for dueling Example build 31.14.6 Category:Guides Category:Rogues Category:Talents Category:Rogue Talents